Former US AG Clark wants Saddam trial suspended

[JURIST] Former US attorney general Ramsey Clark [JURIST news archive], currently a member of the defense team representing deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein [JURIST news archive], told Reuters Sunday that Hussein's trial should be suspended. Referring to the Iraqi High Criminal Court (formerly, the Iraqi Special Tribunal [official website]), Clark stated that "it's unthinkable they would press forward" after chief judge Rizgar Amin resigned earlier this month [JURIST report] in protest at criticism surrounding his handling of the trial. Clark also said he expects more intimidation when the trial resumes on Tuesday, and expressed little confidence in the court:

It's a creature of the US military occupation, its statute was drafted by the US and rubber-stamped later by the people in the US and supported all the time. The personnel were chosen and trained by the US and the US military is all over the place. The whole environment in the country is so violent and threatening it's impossible for it to function as a court. The court has to be independent; if the court is not independent, how can we hope to get truth and justice from its efforts?

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